Northampton College is a large Further Education

College with approximately 13,000 learners, a turnover

of almost £28 million and over 1200 full-time and

part-time members of staff. The College’s mission is

to provide the local community with the opportunity to

develop through learning and is on a strategic journey

to become a ‘Grade 1’ college in the next few years.

The Leadership Development Unit at Northampton

College is an accredited centre for the Chartered

Management Institute and offers a range of

programmes and executive coaching to help

business leaders meet the ever-changing needs of

the marketplace. From bespoke training programmes

to nationally recognised qualifications at Degree and

Masters Degree level they have a breadth of experience

to help organisations of all sizes from both the public

and private sectors.

The Challenge

Nigel Girling, Manager of the Leadership Development

Unit explains, “The LDU is responsible for the provision

of programmes both for commercial clients and the

management team of the college. I wanted to improve

the dynamics and capabilities of the management team

and build better interdepartmental relationships in order

to raise standards throughout the College on our

journey to a Grade 1. As a unit we also needed to

improve and extend our offering to business clients in

order to compete successfully with other providers.”

The Solution

“We use Thomas PPA, TST and Team Audit extensively

as part of our internal development programme and are

beginning to introduce Thomas EIQ. Commercially we

use Thomas tools to help business leaders achieve their

development objectives. The real power is in the

combination of all four tools. Together they deliver a

comprehensive picture of behavioural style, mental

ability and team dynamics.”

“I tell people their PPA profile is the most important

piece of information they have ever received. It is like

holding up a mirror – it really helps people to

understand their behaviour and how others perceive

them. By improving self-awareness PPA gives individuals

the opportunity to make choices about their behaviour.”

PPA gives an accurate overview of an individual’s work

behavioural preferences and describes it in terms of

four opposing factors: D = Dominance, I = Influence,

S = Steadiness, and C = Compliance.

“We offer all management staff 1-1 support to help

them understand their PPA profile and its applications

within their team. Often Managers can have different

Case studyNorthampton College

“The real power is in the combination of all four tools. Together they deliver a comprehensive picture of behavioural style, mental ability and team dynamics.”

T +44(0)1628 475 366 E info@thomas.co.uk www.thomasinternational.net

profiles from their team members. For example, many

have D led profiles, and tend to be driving, assertive

and forceful, but are leading teams containing high S

and C profiles, who tend to be deliberate, careful,

systematic and amiable. This can cause a lot of conflict

and loss of motivation. PPA facilitates their

understanding of different behavioural styles resulting

in better communication between team members.”

“Our commercial client base primarily consists of D led

profiles. The awareness of behavioural preferences

engendered by PPA has helped us work more effectively

with client organisations and made it easier to

implement solutions suitable for their specific needs.”

“TST gives us information on the pace at which people

prefer to work. This helps to create tolerance for the

various working speeds within each team.” TST

measures fluid intelligence – the rate at which someone

can learn and process new information. “Individuals

with higher scores learn to slow things down.

Individuals with lower scores become more focused and

less afraid to ask for clarification when dealing with

higher scores. This has an enormously positive effect on

team dynamics.”

“We use Team Audit to help managers consider their

team as a whole: What impact does each team

member have on the team? Are the right people in the

right roles? Could this team be more effective? Are

there specific team issues that need to be addressed?

Managers using Team Audit learn to recognise the

value of each team member and question their

objectivity when making team decisions.”

“With commercial clients we use Thomas assessments

to frame discussions about behaviour: What drives

behaviour? Are some behaviours better than others in

their context? Do particular behaviours help or hinder

progress? At an organisational level we use PPA and

Team Audit to give broad information on the best way

for a company to achieve its aims. At an individual level

TST and EIQ provide more detailed information to drive

our coaching process.”

“Thomas assessments are ideal for encouraging people

to reflect on their actions and getting them to see the

benefits of modifying behaviour. They speed up

coaching by enabling us to have in-depth, personal

discussions very early on. The reports increase our

credibility and give us leverage to create lasting

behavioural changes.”

“Combining Thomas’ work based assessments with the

College’s academic expertise puts us in a strong

commercial position. Internally the assessments have

made us a better team. Now we don’t just support

each other - we really work together. We have a

common toolkit and language to use with clients and

this enables team members to cover for one another

with minimum disruption. Having the ability to field a

large training team (20+ people) who work together

seamlessly gives us a real edge over private providers.”

T +44(0)1628 475 366 E info@thomas.co.uk www.thomasinternational.net